Geothermal district heating power system

Abstract

A geothermal district heating (DH) system includes a plurality of DH conduits each of the conduits extending to a corresponding heat consumer; means for delivering a DH-usable fluid through said plurality of DH conduits; a fluid circuit through which a geothermal fluid is flowable; and at least two heat exchangers, each of the heat exchangers configured to transfer heat directly or indirectly from the geothermal fluid to said DH-usable fluid with a total heat influx provided by the at least two heat exchangers to said DH-usable fluid that is sufficiently high to raise a temperature of the DH-usable fluid to a predetermined DH-usable temperature without need for any supplemental fossil fuel derived waste heat to be transferred to said DH-usable fluid.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to the field of geothermal energy. More particularly, the invention relates to a geothermal district heating system by which geothermally generated heat is distributed for residential and commercial heating requirements.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]In a district heating system, a heat resource that would otherwise be wasted is exploited by means of a network of conduits that deliver water heated by the resource to consumers, in order to meet their heat demands, generally in terms of space heating and the production of hot water. The conduits of the district heating system are generally relatively short to minimize the installation costs.[0003]Typical heat resources for a district heating system typically include waste heat from a combined heat and power station, often referred to as a cogeneration plant, waste heat from an industrial process, or a geothermal resource.[0004]Since heating and cooling needs account for about...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes two types of geothermal heating systems. The first system uses heat exchangers to transfer heat from geothermal fluid to a usable fluid for use in a district heating system. The second system uses a combination of a fluid circuit and an organic rankine cycle to produce power and heat the liquid for use in the geothermal heating system. These systems can provide efficient and cost-effective heating without needing any additional fossil fuel waste heat.

Problems solved by technology

However, the high costs involved in locating a suitable geothermal production well, drilling the well and connecting the well to the district heating system often outweigh the savings in the use of a geothermal resource, particularly when given fossil fuel derived waste heat has a high enthalpy level even though its temperature is relatively low.

Thus geothermal district heating systems have had limited acceptance, and even if a geothermal resource has been used as a source of heat for a district heating system, its heat influx has been supplemented with fossil fuel derived waste heat.

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